How to Design a Web Page: The Intricate Details

how to design a web page

Are you establishing your online footprint for your business, but you’re having trouble attracting attention? It’s time to let your website do the work. A well-designed web page helps you solve business goals because of a combination of high-quality content that speaks to your audience and an emphasis on clear, defined goals. 

Then, it’s all about knowing a few design rules of thumb in order to create an attractive web page that people want to visit and engage with! If you’re ready to improve your website, we’re here to help. 

Read on to learn how to design a web page the right way in order to attract more traffic and encourage engagement! 

Start With Purpose

Designing web pages is similar to designing entire websites. You’ll want to begin by determining the purpose of the page first. Each web page of your site should have only one goal. This will help create a simplified experience for your users so that they don’t encounter information overload.

Defining one purpose also helps you include a call to action on every page. When you include a clear call to action, this can help reduce bounce rates on your website by giving viewers a clear path forward. 

Here are a few common purposes of web pages to get you started: 

Consider your own purposes when you’re browsing online. When you type in a search term in a search engine, you’re usually trying to learn more about something, navigate to a specific web page, or you’re ready to make a purchase. Consider these goals while creating your content strategy! 

Create a Content Strategy

Now that you know the purpose of each of your web pages, you’ll have an easier time creating a content strategy. A content strategy helps you with the following: 

  • Defining your target audience 
  • Deciding on the kind of content that your audience will connect with
  • Developing the content
  • Scheduling the content 

Remember that since each of your web pages only has one goal, you should focus on creating high-quality content that’s easy for viewers to read and ingest. Simplicity is always the answer. 

If you have blog posts on a web page, remember to break up the posts with visuals and keep the sentences short and easy to read. If you have a form that you’d like customers to fill out, try to keep the number of form fields down to five or less.

Page Structure

Once you have a solid content strategy in place, it’s time to design the actual web page. The easiest place to start is to decide on the page structure. The structure of a page determines where each element will go, such as blog posts, headlines, forms, and graphics. 

The most common way to determine a page’s structure is to start with wireframes. Although this is a common method designers use, you don’t need any knowledge of software, design, or coding in order to get started. All you need is a sheet of paper and a pencil. 

You’ll draw and label boxes as you imagine that the paper is your web page. For instance, on the top, you may want your website’s logo with an image on the left side of the page. You’ll then have your content on the right side. This continues until you have all your elements accounted for. 

Creating Visual Hierarchy

Keeping visual hierarchy in mind will help you determine your page structure. Because you don’t want viewers to feel overwhelmed by your web page, it’s important to design with scalability in mind. This gives people the ability to scan through the web page and move on to the next without needing to stay longer on the page than they’d like. 

Scannability is easier if you establish a visual hierarchy. For instance, many designers agree that an F-shaped pattern is better for text-heavy pages. Users will scan the top of the page from left to right, then they’ll scroll down and repeat the movement. Next, they’ll scroll down the page while scanning the left side, creating an F-shape. 

Since you know where people’s eyes will commonly go on a web page, this clues you in on where to place each element on your page. With the F-shaped pattern, you’ll know to place important pieces of information or calls to action on the left side of the page. 

Negative Space

You can see how the content on your page as well as where it’s placed makes a huge difference in whether you’ll have high or low bounce rates. However, the lack of content on a page is just as important as the content itself.

When you navigate to any popular website, you’ll find that there is blank space as well as active space. If every single area of a web page was filled with content, your audience will quickly feel overwhelmed. Remember to incorporate negative space in your page structure in order to encourage users to keep scrolling downward.

A good rule of thumb is to include ample negative space in order to divide different elements on a page, such as between text and images.

Quality Call to Action Buttons

We’ve already addressed how important calls to action are on each of your web pages, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to create them. Each call to action needs to contain a clear and simple direction so that users know what to do next. Here are a few examples: 

  • Sign up here
  • Download our trial
  • Schedule a free consultation

Along with the right copy, make sure that each button is prominent on the page. It also needs to be clear that the button is clickable through visual cues such as a changing color when you hover over the button, drop shadows, or simply an instruction to “click here.”

Quality Images and Graphics

You’ll also want to ensure that the images and graphics you’re using are a good representation of your business. You’ll want to start by first ensuring they’re properly sized so that they aren’t too small, blurry, or pixelated. You also want to avoid uploading full-size on to your web pages because you still want the page to load quickly for users. 

When it comes to choosing imagery, focus on colors and visual representations that make sense for your company. For instance, if you know your target audience is women in their 30’s to 40’s, you’ll want to find stock images that represent this demographic. 

Measuring and Tracking Performance

You’ll never know how well a web page is doing if you’re not measuring or tracking its performance. The way you measure and track your performance is based on the overall goals of your business and the web page.

For instance, if you have a web page that’s solely to encourage people to sign up for your mailing list, you’ll want to see how many people are signing up each month. If the number is lower than you’d like, you know it’s time to improve the content on that page or determine what your target audience really wants.

Here are a few other KPIs (key performance indicators) to determine how well a web page is doing:

  • Bounce rate
  • Average time on page
  • Unique visitors
  • Sales
  • Sessions
  • Percentage of new visitors
  • And more

If you don’t keep track of at least a few KPIs, there’s no way to determine whether a web page is doing the work you need or not. Remember that it’s not realistic to expect all your web pages to be successful the moment you publish them. You’ll need to constantly come up with new ideas, test them through A/B testing, and develop those ideas. 

How to Design a Web Page: Start With a Plan

When you learn how to design a web page, it’s important to begin with a plan in mind. For instance, consider what would happen if you designed a beautiful web page but weren’t thinking about your target audience. Even though your web page might draw traffic, it won’t be traffic that converts into paying customers. 

Ready to look into award-winning web content, design, or SEO services that can bump your website up to the next level? Killer Spots Agency provides quality, in-house services with a strategy and ROI culture. We deliver our customers complete customer service and measurable results.

Contact us today to get started! 

Small Business Owner’s Guide to on Hold Messaging

On Hold Messaging

The average American will spend around 43 days on hold over the course of their lifetime. That works out to around 13 hours a year.

Small business owners hope their customers never spend that long waiting on agents. It’s inevitable, though, that there are going to be times when customers will have to hold the line.

That’s why small business owners must consider on hold messaging for their businesses. That’s valuable time a customer is spending with a business. By not having the right on hold messaging in place, the business is missing a key opportunity.

So, how can small business leaders make sure they have the right messaging in place? This detailed guide walks through the ins and outs of crafting the perfect message. It also explores the impacts of on hold messages.

Why an the Right on Hold Message Matters

Before diving in to crafting the perfect message, it helps to understand the impact these messages have. On hold messaging is an often overlooked point of service. That means business leaders are missing a key opportunity to deliver an outstanding experience.

Customers may call a business because they have questions or they need help. In some cases, they’re frustrated. Spending a long time on hold, listening to hold music, can make them more frustrated.

Some people may hang up. Others may decide they won’t deal with a business again. They’ll look for new partners.

Automated messages can help, but they need to contain the right information. The right message can help customers feel appreciated and supported.

They also provide an opportunity for business owners to communicate their latest deals. Cross-selling and upselling messages can be informative.

That’s why small business owners should stay away from generic prerecorded messages. These don’t help customers, and they can even increase feelings of frustration.

With that in mind, it’s time to learn how to craft the perfect on hold messages for a small business.

Provide Estimated Wait Times When Possible

Business owners should let customers know how long they can expect to be on hold.

Generic automatic messages often tell customers that their call “is important” and to continue holding. The message may reassure customers that someone will be with them “soon.”

Small business owners should look into systems that give customers an estimated wait time. Providing this information can keep people on the line longer. If they know it’s only going to be a few more minutes, they’re less likely to get frustrated and hang up.

Providing an estimate is more informative than saying “soon.” It also isn’t as frustrating as hearing an agent will be available “soon” for 20 minutes.

Offering an estimate can seem difficult. It’s possible to find answering systems that will play a prerecorded message, followed by an estimates time calculated by the system.

Make on Hold Messaging Informative

Next, small business leaders should consider the messages they convey. Customers appreciate informative messaging. It offers them a much better experience.

That’s one reason messages that thank customers for holding and tell them their call is important are popular. These messages reassure the customer that the business does value them.

They’re not always enough, though. Offering the estimated wait time is one example of being more informative.

An on hold message should also include contact information. It may also give the customer other options for getting in touch. That way, if they can’t wait the estimated wait time, they can still find another way to ask their question or express a concern.

This provides convenience to the customer, which improves their experience.

Next, think about informing the customer about deals, special offers, and more. A customer calling with a billing inquiry may be interested to learn more about a special deal the business has on offer. They may ask to switch their plan to that as a way of resolving their question or concern.

This helps the business keep the customer’s business. It also helps improve the customer’s own satisfaction. They’ll be happier knowing their concern was addressed and they got a great deal.

Providing more informative messaging may mean switching messages more often. This can also keep customers interested. If they have to call a business often, then they may hear something new each time.

Crafting the Perfect on Hold Message

Now it’s time to start crafting the perfect on hold messages for customers. There are five types of message content to consider:

  • The greeting
  • Offers and promotions
  • Answers to frequently asked questions
  • Review requests
  • Educational messages

Offers and promotions, educational messages, and FAQ answers are all highly informative. Greetings and review requests are more customer-service oriented.

The greeting is indispensable, but a business doesn’t need to include all these types of messages. It may be helpful for a small business to pick one or two. A request for review and a few FAQ answers may be enough for a small business.

Tips for a Great Greeting

The greeting message should play when the customer reaches the phone queue. It should be warm and inviting. It should also give the customer key details, such as the name of the business they’ve called.

Including a business tagline can also help the customer know they’ve reached the right place.

The next lines should inform the customer about what will happen next. The message should identify that agents are currently busy and that the customer is on hold. If possible, customers should get an estimated wait time.

The greeting should only be played once. As the customer continues to hold, a variant may play. The message may thank them for continuing to hold and provide an updated wait time estimate.

Informative FAQ Answers and Educational Messages

Answering some FAQs in messages can be a great way to make use of the customer’s valuable time. In some cases, they may even get the answer they’re looking for from the message.

This can be helpful for both them and the business’s agents. The customer can hang up, satisfied with the answer, and lines may free up.

Consider including information such as business hours, address, or other relevant information. A pizzeria, for example, might include information about where they deliver.

Educational messages may go beyond the FAQ answers. They provide supportive messaging that direct customers to helpful resources. An example is a tech company that directs people to a troubleshooting guide for common problems.

It’s important to be supportive here. Customers often call as a “last resort.” They don’t want to hear about “simple solutions” that they’ve already tried.

Promotions and Reviews

As mentioned, giving customers information about deals or promotions may intrigued them or help them resolve an issue.

Asking for a review is another common message. The message will ask customers to consider rating their experience or leaving feedback. There may be a reward, like a contest entry, for leaving feedback.

Recording on Hold Messages

Now it’s time to look at the recording process for small business on hold messaging. The first step is usually to write a script.

Many business leaders feel they don’t need to come up with a script, because the messages are so short. Having a script is important, though.

It helps business leaders ensure the right information is given. A written script is easier to check for accuracy and completeness before recording. It can always be tweaked to sound more natural too.

The written script can also be rehearsed and referenced during recording. It can help the voice-over artist pace themselves so the message is easy to understand.

Working With the Professionals

Many small business owners skip on hold messaging. They believe it’s too expensive to have someone else record their messages. They may also believe they can do it themselves, but they never find the time.

Working with professional voice-over artists is often more affordable than business owners think. It also gives messages a personalized flair. That can make messages warmer, more inviting, and even easier to understand.

It also means the job gets done on time.

It’s important to find the right “voice” for a business, so don’t hesitate to have a few people audition. Listening to samples can also help.

The right voice, combined with the right message, helps customers feel both reassured and appreciated.

Step up the on Hold Game

On hold messaging is more important than many business owners give it credit for. With the right messages and the right team, on hold messages can improve the customer experience and make more of their valuable time.

As a result, the right on hold message is important for any business’s growth. Ready to discover what a better on hold message could do for a business? It’s time to get in touch with the experts and hear the difference.